Squadron Leader Jocelyn Millard AE KSG, one of our oldest living Edmundians and a heroic figure from the Battle of Britain has died at the age of 95. Jocelyn George Power Millard was born on 23 February 1915, and was in Douglass House between 1928 and 1931. He died on 10 May 2010.

Jocelyn Millard was in Fighter Command from September 1940 until March 1941 with No.1, 242 and 615 Squadrons. No.1 Squadron was formed during the First World War and is still operational, 242 Squadron was commanded by Douglas Bader who was his commanding officer when Millard joined and 615 was the County of Surrey Auxiliary Squadron, known as "Churchill's Own", as he was the Honorary Commodore.

His greatest fear was of a mid-air collision – an inevitability in a sky full of aircraft. His squadrons, based at Wittering, Lincolnshire, and at Coltishall, Norfolk, flew Hurricanes during the Battle of Britain. When they scrambled, they flew in a very tight arrowhead formation, only a few feet away from each other. In an interview with the Daily Mail in 2000, he said "When you lost a friend you felt bad, but you never talked about it. None of us discussed the men who died. And every one of us was afraid - whoever says he wasn't is lying - we just didn't show our feelings."

He believed that the downfall of some of the pilots was that they went into combat after having a few too many the night before. He was fortunate in that his plane was never badly hit and that he managed to avoid colliding with anyone.Having been assessed as an above-average pilot-navigator, he was made flying instructor in 1941, and taught the new crop of young fighter pilots coming in to replace those who had been killed. He possessed the only known remaining complete headgear from the Battle of Britain, exactly as it was when he did his last sortie in Fighter Command in 1941.

Jocelyn Millard retired from the RAF in 1947 and afterwards worked for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and later for the Ministry of Defence. He was awarded the Silver Medal of Merit of the Guild of St Stephen (awarded for sixty years of service to Church as an altar server), the Papal Medal Bene Merenti, the Papal Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice.

He lived in retirement in Letchworth, Hertfordshire and was a Life Patron of The Edmundian Association. In 2005 he was invited back to St Edmund’s by the ‘Battle of Britain Historical Society’ to witness the unveiling of a plaque commemorating his role in the Battle of Britain. This is situated at the entrance to the College Chapel.

May he rest in peace.